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Get Rid of Brown Widows

Brown Widow Spider: Experts say this spider ranges in color from gray or tan to dark brown and may reach 1 inch to 1½ inches long. Like its better-known black widow cousin, the brown widow spider has a yellow-to-orange hourglass marking on the underside of its abdomen. It also has black and white marks on the top of the abdomen and often has dark bands on its legs. "Its venom is more toxic than the black widow’s," LSU AgCenter entomologist Dr. Dennis Ring said. "But it doesn’t put out as much venom in its bite." Pest Products Online has the products experts use to eliminate this spider.

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ProductRecommendations at the bottom of this page Brown Widow Spiders Loxosceles reclusa

The Brown Widow builds its web in secluded, protected sites around our homes, often very near our presence. It has a fondness for buildings but will construct its web in all kinds of man-made structures, and even vegetation. Some typical sites include inside old tires, empty containers such as buckets and nursery pots, mail boxes, entry way corners, under eaves, stacked equipment, cluttered storage closets and garages, behind hurricane shutters, recessed hand grips of plastic garbage cans, undercarriages of motor homes, underneath outside chairs, branches of shrubs. The following photographs show some sites where brown widows have constructed their webs.

Health Risks

This spider has spread throughout Florida and people have reported sightings of it from Southern California, Colorado, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Complaints about its occurrence in cars and RVs indicate this spider will make it home in these sites. Cars, trucks, and RVs have probably helped to distribute this spider far and wide.

Property Damage

The Brown Widow spider does not cause property damage or infest food products.

Prevention

The best remedy for controlling brown widow spiders is to remove areas where they may nest, according to Ring. The LSU AgCenter entomologist recommends picking up clutter and sealing cracks and crevices around doors and windows, as well as in driveways and sidewalks.

Ring added that brown widow spiders also can be controlled by using spray or powdered insecticides labeled for spiders.